This was our fourth trip to St. Martin and they just keep getting better. This was our first 2-week stay and it was amazing how much we enjoyed the extra time. We may not have much new to share for the veterans, but will try to point out a few little tips that might be helpful. This got a little too long, sorry.

Flight: Flew Sun Country Charter non-stop both ways from MSP for about $650. Probably don’t realize how lucky we are to have it available.
Left home at -17 degrees F !

Car Rental: Used St. Louis car rental. They met us at the airport and we were on our way in 20 minutes. Started out with a Getz and they switched us to an Optima several days later (what we had ordered). Marius offered to give us a partial refund for the hassle of switching cars, but we told him that wasn’t necessary, his rates were reasonable. Will use him again.

Phone: Rented from Sharon Harris—nice to have even though we don’t use it often.

Lodging: We stayed at a privately owned studio on the third floor of Palm Court, Orient Beach. The hotel has recently been renovated, Moroccan style, and the grounds have been nicely upgraded as well. I suspect the price will be going up. Not as plush as many properties in the area, but for our dollar, one of the best values. Less than 5 minutes from the beach.

Dining: We will attempt to list the restaurants a loose order of our enjoyment, etc., but it is so hard to compare when there are so many variables. (only our opinions.)

BREAKFAST;

Sunset Café GCBC—Very romantic setting (even in the AM), great service, reasonable prices and exchange rate. Worth driving to.

La Croissanterie—Marigot Marina. Large mushroom, ham, onion, fresh cream crepe $9
Large glass of fresh squeezed OJ $2 American breakfast $11 Very good.

Barefoot Terrace (Capt. Hodge Pier)—Good value, pretty setting, great oatmeal, which you don’t see very often.

Mr. Busby’s—Lot of breakfast combos in the $5-7 range. We like to go early when it’s quiet. Open at 7:30 am.

Orient Village (name? next to Tap 5 deli)—coffee, juice, eggs, meat, hashbrowns (processed patty), salad, bread, jam and fresh fruit $11

Safari Grill—Orient Village—breakfast buffet $7, with eggs $9. Not real impressive (canned fruit cocktail), spoke no English. Handy if you stay near there, but….it does put a bounce in your step.

LUNCH:

Gutside: Peaceful, quiet setting. Place built by owner Richard Brooks, delightful to visit with. He finished building it 3 weeks before Hurricane Luiz and was spared any damage. Try to get there early for stewed chicken or he will run out. Whole grilled red snapper $15 and conch stew$12 excellent—1 to1 exchange.

Chez Leandra: Next to Baywatch. Huge “wraps” (shrimp and chicken) with fries $8 and $2 beers. One wrap could feed two people. Very tasty.

Baywatch: Great as usual, mussels, margarita shrimp, 4 beers, and a BBC plus tip $49.50

Shrimpy’s: Went on Sunday, disappointed there was no BBQ as advertised. Grilled shrimp were great $9.50. fish and chips looked very good.

Pedro’s (2X)—First time had rib and chicken platters, both very good. Second time the ribs were very fatty and not too hot. Quite disappointed. They accepted graciously the 2-for-1 internet coupons on the drinks so we had 4 BBC’s, which made it a very economical lunch. Left a big tip.

Lolos—Rib Shack: very good (on the water). TOTTown: also very good, seemed to be bigger portions than Rib Shack.

La Playa: Have free chairs there, their lunches are ok, but lots of competition on Orient Beach.

A great economical lunch are the sandwiches from Tap 5 restaurant or deli. $6.50 for ham, turkey, crab, tuna, etc. They are nearly a foot long and very good. (crab was our favorite).

DINNER:

La Petite Auberge de Isles: we only repeat one restaurant from previous trips and this was the one. Bruno adds many selections to his basic fixed-price menu. 23.50 euros.
Soup, salad, lamb ragout/ fettucini, mahi mahi, lemon coconut tart, warm chocolate cake, bottle of wine, water, tip $83. Small restaurant, plan on 2+ hrs for your meal. Our favorite place. Best value.

Spiga: Finally got there and it did not disappoint. Try to reserve a table on the porch. Pork ragout and gnocchi were great, 2 starters (lobster ravioli to die for) 2 desserts, water, wine $99 + tip. (Biggest surprise was 1 to 1 exchange, I don’t remember seeing that reported here.) Best food and service.

Le Escapade: For starters tried the lobster ravioli again to compare to Spiga. Very good, bigger chunks of lobster and cheese inside the ravioli. Spiga’s were more delicate and pasta was better. Snails were ok. Jumbo shrimp, duck breast/foie gras burgundy sauce, warm chocolate cake, homemade nougat (do not recommend), water and wine $116 + tip. 1 to 1 exchange. (The exchange was more than 30% if you didn’t do cash)
Very good food and service. Best setting/view, right on the water—call ahead and reserve a table ocean side.

Blue Martini: split onion soup, shrimp provencal $21, hangar steak with red wine sauce $19, split a crème brulee, water, complimentary vanilla rum, could have drank the whole bottle LOL. $60 + tip. Very good value, the steak was excellent. Be warned: 1 to 1 exchange ONLY for cash, not travelers checks.

Tai Chi: Orient Village—excellent Thai and Vietnamese food. Thai is much hotter than Vietnamese. Ask your waitress. Grilled shrimp with noodles, grilled scallops with noodles, water, 4 cocktails $88 + tip. We goofed, we ordered the special cocktail of the day which was a tiny champagne flute for over $11 ! Should have asked. Used an internet coupon which they took graciously for 2 big BBC’s after our meal. Helped put out the fire. Also took the sting out of the champagne cocktails. Ask for table 35 on the edge of the courtyard.

Cote Plage—Orient Village: Wanted to go to La Chapelle for Super bowl party but it was full. Ate here (next door) instead. Grouper with ginger breading, red snapper in lime sauce, very nice fresh vegetables, large portions, 3 drinks and crème brulee $65 + tip.

Uncle Harry’s—came for the lobster. The waitress said “we only have a 4 ½ pounder left.” ($24/lb) We hesitated and she soon said we have one 2-pounder left, so we split that. Salad, potato, frozen vegetables, and shared a key lime pie (not homemade), beer, water, $59 + tip. What is odd is that there was at least 20 lobsters of varying sizes in their holding tank 10 feet from where we were sitting and people that came in after us ordered lobster. I’m not sure we have developed a true appreciation for Caribbean lobster, but we left satisfied.

Le Belle Epoque: Had a pizza, pretty good, and fettuccini with bacon cream sauce which was fine but I probably wouldn’t order it again, water $42 + tip. Normally a good place, slightly an “off-night” for us.

Rocking Chair—Orient Village: The only reason we ate here was it was the only restaurant with an open table on the courtyard where we could listen to live music which plays on Friday nites. The waiter was excited about the fajitas and so I tried them. Very tuff chunks of steak with virtually no seasoning, hardly any peppers or onions. The taco salad was average at best, beer, $55 + tip. It’s our own fault, we don’t go to SXM to eat TexMex. We probably won’t be back.

Calmos: We went for the toes-in-the-sand atmosphere and live music on Sunday night. The setting is cool, the music was quite loud (I guess we’re getting old). We sat in the lounge chairs to eat which was ok. The burger was a decent large burger. The chicken platter I had was really poor. It wasn’t grilled but baked and it was completely dried out. Almost not edible. If we go again, it would be when the music is not playing.

Lolos—Our conclusion is that the food to a degree is all about the same from one to the other. The key is WHEN you eat there. When the ribs and chicken are somewhat fresh from coming off the grill (the first time), you have your best quality. Lunch seems better than evening. I think Tues nites when they are really busy is the worst time for food. They pre-cook a lot of stuff and warm it that nite. We saw them taking cooked racks of ribs out of a 5-gallon pail and putting them on the grill to warm them. We love going there, but it is somewhat inconsistent.

Tap 5—Orient Village: certainly not last on our list! But top-notch for pizza. Good salads and soup also.

RANDOM THOUGHTS:

We had no problems with crime, we are leaning how to avoid traffic problems although sometimes you get stuck anyhow. The weather was great, minimal rain and manageable winds, no bugs, no loss of water pressure, 15 minutes of power outage.
Staying for 2 weeks allowed us to take time to explore the island more which we really enjoyed. We checked out Lotterie Farm and decided to drive to top of Pic Paradis. We didn’t get out of the car, and my comfort zone shrank as I got near the top. I wouldn’t do it again and probably suggest you resist the urge.
Thanks to Norm and Betty and whoever else helped organize the gathering at the Greenhouse. It was fun to meet new people and we got to sit with the fellow chosen frozen folks from Minnesota. The people you meet, TTOL’ers, etc., along with all the great people who live on the island really make SXM a special place. We were also happy to meet Flash Tropical at Taloula Mango’s and enjoy his CD.
We like the airport, it represents growth, but it’s reality. Visited the Westin. Too much brass and glass for us. Sterile is the word that comes to mind. I’m sure it will thrive, but the only use it will get from us was we used the restrooms.
Friday nites at Orient Village are fun with live music, etc., in the courtyard. Band didn’t show up the second Friday nite. Harmony Nites are fun in Gran Case, go early for parking. Enjoyed the Rhythm Boys, bought their CD for $15, ($8 on Front Street). Marigot Market is a fun stop. Check out the huge tarpons feeding on the fish entrails the “cleaners” throw out in the water. Across the street is Sarafina’s, a bakery with edible works of art. Was especially fun on Valentine’s Day.
We had a few problems with buying internet time at DVD Plus, the cards didn’t work and things were quite slow. They did what they could to help. Bought gas at Cadisco north of Orient Bay. Seems like the best price. Susan had a foot massage from the Asian fellow on the beach. 30 minutes for $30. Speaks no English. It was very good and so far no toes have sloughed off or no skin diseases.
We like to go to the casinos after dinner and play a little blackjack. Most casinos quit printing match play coupons which used to really improve your odds. We really enjoy listening to Melvin sing at the Princess Casino. On Valentine’s Day he had a 6-piece orchestra with him. It’s just too bad there isn’t a lounge to sit and listen. We find the dealers at Princess more friendly than other casinos and it is located close to the French side.
We must agree that things do not seem all that busy on the French side (can’t speak for the Dutch side). The restaurants didn’t seem very full, and we were told many hotels were not full in January. More and more restaurants seem like they are doing 1 to 1 exchange in Gran Case. Virtually no one does 1 to 1 exchange in the Orient Village area or at the Marigot Marina. We are starting to like the restaurants that are located away from the car traffic a little better.
We still don’t know how to handle tipping (French side), but if it’s 1 to 1, we tip as in the states, if not 1 to 1 we tip somewhat less. Most of our time was spent on Orient Beach and sand gravity eliminated a few of the things we planned on doing. All in all it was a great trip and we will be back. (Next year with 4 kids and their spouses in a Villa!)

Bon jour!